Positive pickup traverse guide



1966 D. J. STETZ POSITIVE PICKUP TRAVERSE GUIDE Filed Dec. 15, 1965United States Patent 3,276,719 POSITIVE PICKUP TRAVERSE GUIDE Donald J.Stetz, Seaford, DeL, assignor to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company,Wilmington, Del., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 15, 1965, Ser.No. 514,058 3 Claims. (Cl. 242157) This invention relates generally tothe production of textile fibers and more particularly to the winding ofyarn at high speeds.

In a winding apparatus of the type disclosed by Altice et al. in U.1S.Patent No. 3,086,722, yarn advances through a traverse guide to arotating package. At stringup, the yarn is brought down, attached to oneend of the package support and released for pickup by the traverseguide.

Although available traverse guides are referred to as selfthreading, theyarn usually does not seat during the first traverse stroke afterstringup. Instead, it has a tendency to slide over the slot for thefirst few strokes, until threadline tension stabilizes. During thisperiod, the untraversed y'arn builds up on the central portion of thepackage support in a bunch .form. This is particularly disadvantageousin highs-peed winding of heavy denier yarn where a few strokes of thetraverse guide without threadline pickup can result in a relativelylarge untraversed yarn wrap being formed on the package support.

According to this invention, the various problems associated withuntraversed yarn wraps have been avoided with a traverse guide of thetype disclosed by Altice et al. which has a modified guide plateembedded in and projecting outwardly from the molded base. The plate hasan outer end and sides diverging therefrom to the base, the end beingdivided into spaced segments by the mouth of a guide slot. One of thesides projects farther and its adjoining end segment is spaced fartherfrom the base than the other side and end segment. Additionally, a rodmember also projects from the base and has an intermediate lengthcontacting the plate adjacent the one end segment at the slot andoverlapping both the slot and the other end segment. In its terminallength, the rod member is bent laterally away from the plate in such amanner as to present a first acute angle with the other side of theplate and a second acute angle with the plane of the plate.

Various objectives and functional advantages of the modified traverseguide will be apparent from the following description wherein referenceis made to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a partially sectioned end view of a winding apparatus whichincludes the traverse guide of the present invention;

FIGS. 2-4 are enlarged end, top and side views, respectively, of thetraverse guide shown in FIG. 1; and

'FIG. 5 is a side view of the modified guide plate per se.

In the illustrated winding apparatus, a thread or yarn normally passesthrough a fixed pigtail guide 12, downwardly through a reciprocatingtraverse guide v14 and around a motor driven print roll 16 to a package18 wound on a package support 20. The latter is rotatably supported on ashaft 22 attached to a swing arm 24. Package 18 is surface driven, inthe direction indicated, by roll 16. Before stringup, thread 10' ispassed behind a rod 26 and around roll 16 to package support 20. Afterstringup, the package is initiated by traversing yarn 10' manually offthe end of rod 26 to a position where it is in the path of travel ofguide 14. The latter is engaged in the helical groove of a rotatablydriven barrel cam 28 and is restricted to a reciprocating path of travelby rails 30.

3,276,719 Patented Oct. 4, 1966 As shown in FIGS. 2-4, traverse guide 14includes a guide plate 32 and a yarn-restraining arm or rod member 34embedded in and projecting outwardly from a molded plastic base 36. Base36 has a cylindrical cam-engaging portion 38 and a grooved rail-engagingportion 40.

Guide plate 32 has sides 42, 44 which converge toward end segments 46,48 on either side of a teardrop-shaped slot 50. Adjacent the embeddedend of plate 32, a portion has been removed as shown at 52 to providefor retention in the molded base 36. Side 44 converges at a lesser anglethan side 42 and its adjoining end segment 48 is closer to base 36 thanis end segment 46.

Rod member 34 is formed from steel wire, has a hook length 54 embeddedin rail-engaging portion 40 and projects outwardly from base 36 in anangularly disposed length 56 which approaches one face of plate 32. Arm34 continues in an intermediate length 58 which is substantiallyparallel to the plane of guide plate 32, contacts the plate just belowend segment 46 at the edge of slot 50, overlaps the restricted mouth ofslot 50 as well as end segment 48 and is bent laterally away from plate32 in its terminal length 60. Because of the offset between end segments46, 48, there is a space between length 58 and segment 48 through whichyarn traverses to slot 50. This space and the angular opening betweenterminal length 60 and side 44 (FIG. 4) are referred to herein as aloading zone.

At stringup, yarn 10 is brought down from pigtail guide 12, around rod26 and attached to one end of package support 20 while being traversedmanually off the end of rod 26 to an uncontfined position substantiallynormal to the reciprocating path of .guide 14 in which position yarn 10will be contacted either by length 56 or side 44. It first contacted bylength 56, the yarn is merely deflected from its path of advance for amoment. On the return stroke of guide 14, it is engaged by side 44 anddeflected outwardly to and through the loading zone between lengths 58,60 and end segment 48=intcguide slot 50. The contact between length 58and plate 32 just beneath end segment 46 is such that yarn 10 cannotslide beyond but is instead directed downwardly by the teardrop shape ofslot 50. As a package .18 is wound, intermediate length 58 serves as aguard to prevent escape of the yarn from slot 50. The disposition ofterminal length 60 at acute angles with respect to side 44 (FIG. 4) andwith respect to the plane of plate 32 (FIG. 3) usually insures apositive pickup within one complete traverse cycle for guide 14 and thuscooperates with mod-ified plate 32 in the avoidance of untraversed yarnwraps.

Guide member 32 may be made from any suitable material having a highstrength-toweight ratio. A wear resistant ceramic material usually isemployed. When lightweight metals such as aluminum are used, they arecoated with aluminum oxide or other wear resistant material. Othermaterials that may be used include solid (or homogeneous) aluminum oxideand synthetic sapphire. Where steel wire is used to form rod member 34,it is chrome plated to minimize projections, raised areas andnonuniformity of finish. The material employed, however, is notcritical. Additional variations and adaptations of a similar nature willbe apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from thespirit of my invention which is accordingly intended to be limited onlyby the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is:

'1. A traverse guide comprising: a molded base; a guide pl-a'te embeddedin and projecting outwardly from the base, said plate having an outerend and sides diverging therefrom to the base, said outer end beingprovided with and divided into spaced segments by a guide slot, one ofsaid sides projecting farther and its adjoining end segment being spacedfarther from said base than the other side and end segment; and a rodmember projecting from the base, said member having an intermediatelength contacting said plate adjacent said farther spaced segment at theslot and overlapping both the slot-and said other end segment, saidintermediate length being spaced from said plate at the location of theother end segment, said member extending longitudinally beyond the otherend segment in a terminal length bent laterally away from the plate.

=2. The traverse guide of claim 1 wherein said rod member includes anangularly disposed length projecting outwardly from the base to itsintermediate length and presenting a first yarn contact surface adaptedto deflect yarn away from said slot, said other side presenting a secondyarn contact surface adapted to deflect yarn between the intermediatelength and said other end segment to said slot.

3. The traverse guide of claim 2 wherein said terminal length extendslongitudinally at an acute angle with said other side and is bentlaterally at an acute angle with the plane of said plate.

References Citedby the Examiner References Cited by the Applicant UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 2,323,987 7/1943 Foster.

STANL'EY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner.

1. A TRANSVERSE GUIDE COMPRISING: A MOLDED BASE; A GUIDE PLATE EMBEDDEDIN AND PROJECTING OUTWARDLY FROM THE BASE, SAID PLATE HAVING AN OUTEREND AND SIDES DIVERGING THEREFROM TO THE BASE, SAID OUTER END BEINGPROVIDED WITH AND DIVIDED INTO SPACED SEGMENTS BY A GUIDE SLOT, ONE OFSAID SIDES PROJECTING FARTHER AND ITS ADJOINING END SEGMENT BEING SPACEDFARTHER FROM SAID BASE THAN THE OTHER SIDE AND END SEGMENT; AND A RODMEMBER PROJECTING FROM THE BASE, SAID MEMBER HAVING AN INTERMEDIATELENGTH CONTACTING SAID PLATE ADJACENT SAID FARTHER SPACED SEGMENT AT THESLOT AND OVERLAPPING BOTH THE SLOT AND SAID OTHER END SEGMENT, SAIDINTERMEDIATE LENGTH BEING SPACED FROM SAID PLATE AT THE LOCATION OF THEOTHER END SEGMENT, SAID MEMBER EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY BEYOND THE OTHEREND SEGMENT IN A TERMINAL LENGTH BENT LATERALLY AWAY FROM THE PLATE.